It is backed by MPs from the SNP, Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party.

Senior Labour figures have accepted it is not likely to succeed, as May has the backing of Tory rebels and the DUP’s 10 MPs despite them voting against her last night.

Labour says further no-confidence votes could follow if this one fails.

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Opening the debate, Corbyn also criticised the Government’s record on issues beyond leaving the EU before facing Tory taunts, with former minister Anna Soubry labelling him the ‘most hopeless Leader of the Opposition we’ve ever had’.

He fought back, saying: ‘Last week they lost a vote on the Finance Bill, that’s what called supply.

‘Yesterday they lost by the biggest margin ever, that’s what’s regarded as confidence.

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‘By any convention of this House, by any precedence, loss of both confidence and supply should mean they do the right thing and resign.’

He added: ‘If a Government cannot get its legislation through Parliament it must go to the country for a new mandate, and that must apply when it is on the key issue of the day.’

The opposition leader also said there had been ‘no offer of all-party talks’ on Brexit and said: ‘That isn’t reaching out, that isn’t discussing it, that is not recognising the scale of the defeat they suffered last night.’

Jeremy Corbyn told the House of Commons ‘it’s time for a new prime minister and a new mandate’ (Picture: Getty)

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May told Corbyn a general election would: ‘Deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty, and it would bring delay when we need to move forward, so I believe this House should reject this motion.

‘At this crucial moment in our nation’s history, a general election is simply not in the national interest.

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‘Parliament decided to put the question of our membership of the European Union to the people, Parliament promised to abide by the result, Parliament invoked Article 50 to trigger the process, and now Parliament must finish the job.’

The Prime Minister rounded off her speech attacking Corbyn’s leadership.

She said: ‘This is the leader of the party of Attlee who called for the dismantling of Nato, the leader of the party of Bevan who says Britain should unilaterally disarm herself and cross our fingers that others follow suit, the leader of the party that helped deliver the Belfast Agreement invited IRA terrorists into this Parliament just weeks after their colleagues had murdered a member of this House.

Theresa May said a general election would be ‘the worst thing’ as she attacked Corbyn’s record (Picture: PA)

‘His leadership of the Labour Party has been a betrayal of everything that party has stood for, a betrayal of the vast majority of its MPs and a betrayal of millions of decent and patriotic Labour voters.

‘I look across the House and see backbench members who spent years serving their country in office in a Labour government, but I fear that today this is simply not a party that many of its own MPs joined.’

She added: ‘What he has done to his party is a national tragedy, why he would do to the country would be a national calamity.’